SPEAKING on the penultimate day of the United Nations climate negotiations, President Bharrat Jagdeo highlighted the need for international mechanisms to facilitate the flow of climate finance from the developed world to the developing world. He said that having commitments of finance would be insufficient if they were not matched by the mechanisms to intermediate them.

Speaking as part of a panel convened by the Avoided Deforestation Partners and including Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, international philanthropist George Soros and President Obama’s Advisor on Energy and Environment Joe Aldy. President Jagdeo explained how Guyana and Norway’s experience could provide valuable lessons for how multi-lateral institutions like the World Bank could be modernised to provide the financial intermediary services required for climate finance.

The President said, “Having a generous donor and a progressive forest country is not enough. When payments are being made from the developed to the developing world, we need institutions that are able to move beyond the old-fashioned ODA thinking, which does not have a good track record of delivering timely solutions”. He spoke of the difficulties experienced by Guyana and Norway in establishing the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF) and said that if Guyana and Norway could not make it work, nobody could. President Jagdeo said that global institutions needed to evolve quickly, if they are to play a critical role in helping countries to take action on climate change. Failure of these global institutions to act in a timely manner can undermine the political momentum and support for addressing climate change.

In the world’s second largest Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) agreement, Norway has paid US$30 million to Guyana for progress in protecting Guyana’s 16 million hectare forest. Norway will pay up to US$250 million by 2015. Prime Minister Stoltenberg spoke of how there are three leading examples of REDD+ in the world – Brazil, Indonesia and Guyana. Norway has bilateral agreements with all three, and spoke of the political leadership evident in all the countries. Minister Pak Kuntoro of Indonesia spoke about Indonesia’s progress on REDD and the need for forest countries and international partners to work closer.

In opening the session, Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban ki-Moon, told the gathering that agreement for action on forests could be one of the most important outcomes from the Cancun negotiations.

Later in the day, President Jagdeo and Prime Minister Stoltenberg reviewed progress on the Guyana-Norway partnership. President Jagdeo described the meeting as “very focused, and we will both keep a very close eye on progress in the months ahead”. In the coming months, the first investments from the GRIF begin to action the priorities highlighted in the Low Carbon Development Strategy. The initial priorities are to progress Guyana’s low carbon energy transformation, starting with the distribution of solar panels to indigenous communities; the acceleration of the land titling process for indigenous lands, in accordance with the goal set out in the LCDS to address all requests for titling by 2015; and support for vulnerable groups to participate in the new low carbon economy.

President Jagdeo also held discussions with President Luis Alberto Moreno, the President of the Inter-American Development Bank. After the meeting, President Jagdeo praised the IDB’s ability to “deal with challenges such as climate change in a way that is practical and implementable.” Presidents Jagdeo and Moreno discussed progress on the preparations for the Amaila Falls Hydro-Electricity plant, which will catalyse in excess of US$400 million of private finance, and provide affordable, reliable and clean energy. The IDB is providing support to the Government of Guyana in the project’s development.

President Jagdeo concluded his two-day participation in the climate summit in a Heads of State forum convened by Mexican President Felipe Calderon.